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January 29, 2007
The $30 entry fee arrives in NYC
Among the most-expensive house-tours in America: The Judd Foundation is now offering tours of Donald Judd's 101 Spring Street residence at 11am on Fridays. The cost: $30. [via] The first once-a-week groups of eight went through the house last Friday.
(As of this typing, the Judd Foundation has yet to formally announce the opening of the property. A press release is supposed to go out today. I only heard because the Foundation leaked first-word to a lifestyle mag. Preventing sticker-shock by hiding the sticker?)
I'm hardly an expert on house tours, but here are some points of admissions-price comparison: The Biltmore Estate, which weighs in at 250 rooms and is thus somewhat bigger than 101 Spring, charges $25-44 for entry. Hearst Castle, which is also a bit larger than 101 Spring, has a complicated ticket pricing system with prices (I think) between $20 and $30. Early American decorative arts mecca Winterthur charges $20. The $30 fee is 50 percent more than New York's two most-expensive regular museum admissions ($20 at MoMA and $20 suggested at the Met). Judd will offer student and senior tickets for $15.
I'm glad that 101 Spring Street is open to the public, but the price is exclusionary rather than inclusionary. I'm not sure how this furthers Judd's legacy or makes his work more accessible to anyone except those already enamored of it -- and wealthy enough to get in.
Chinati is still $10.
Related: The Judd Foundation sale part one, part two.
Posted January 29, 2007 3:45 PM
